It’s not. If I saw my mother-in-law wearing an Obama shirt, I would be stunned. Surprise does not necessarily imply disapproval. I suspect the teacher just thought it was out of character to see this particular kid trolling for negative reactions…
I never said I thought she was stupid. Where are you getting that from?
Don’t worry about it, Sarahfeena - everyone knows that Obama supporters are models of tolerance.
14 is not an age at which they exercise any civic duties.
Please tell me how you have magically read this teacher’s mind and know that she knew the kid wore the t-shirt to get negative reactions?
Anyone who thinks that saying “I’m not judging you, but I sure am surprised you are a McCain supporter” is not a judgment has got to be stupid.
Liberals are widely thought of as “tolerant” because we’re not trying to pass laws to ban gay marriage, impose our religion on people and restrict women’s rights.
I certainly agree that “I’m not judging” implies a negative attitude.
For the record, “tolerance” does not mean that you have to respect opposing political views, so that whole angle is bogus.
It damned well shouldn’t be. There should be a law that people should only be allowed to vote past a certain age or something. :mad:
I agree. Middle schoolers being hostile towards something vaguely unusual is a great example of liberal intolerance.
Wait, what?
You have no idea what the teacher’s previous interactions with the student have been. Maybe she’s the president of the student Gay/Straight Alliance. Maybe she’s normally seen wearing a t-shirt from the last pro-choice march she attended. Maybe she has made statements in class that have led the teacher to believe her views are more liberal than conservative.
What is this story supposed to prove about Obama supporters?
Not too long ago, there was a person shot six times and killed in the street for wearing an Obama shirt. What does that say about McCain supporters?
Then why the “I’m not judging you” part of the statement? Why wouldn’t she say, “gee, I’m surprised, since you’ve always expressed the opposite point of view before”?
So liberals, all liberals, in general aren’t “the tolerant ones” because middle school children are dicks? Children in middle school are still trying to figure out just who they are. They’re walking hormones. They’re still growing hair in weird places, stink all the time, and can’t decide if members of the opposite sex are friends or enemies. They get a lot of their political beliefs from their parents and they have a very limited chance to actually understand how those politics interact with the real world, and why such beliefs are formed. They mainly focus on tribal affiliation–the right clothes, the right shoes, the right friends to find order in the world. When somebody goes against the grain, they’re targeted.
And we’re supposed to extrapolate about how liberals are intolerant because children react negatively to somebody who stands out from the crowd? And one teacher expresses surprise? Unless the comment was “I’m surprised at you, and I want you out of my classroom” it’s not a passive-aggressive threat. You know what? One time, I was called filthy names and driven out of the lunch room, and I wasn’t even wearing a political shirt! I guess since I grew up in Utah, where everybody is a Republican, I can extrapolate that conservatives are a bunch of shitheads?
You know, I’m beginning to suspect that conservatives decry the politics of victimization so much because deep down, they know they’re the true victims, and everybody else who claims to be marginalized are just pretenders.
Of course it would.
And if it happened to some liberal kid in Alabama, it would be AL.
This episode happened in Illinois, and pretty much everybody agrees it was IL.
“I’m not judging” could very well be said to reassure the kid that the teacher is…wait for it…NOT JUDGING.
OK, that cracked me up.
Beg pardon?
You’re just being a poopy-head. The girl’s paraphrase of her teacher’s reaction is all we need to know about this incident. Adolescents never change the details of a story in order to make the incident more dramatic or to exaggerate their own importance. Duh.
Not too long ago, there was another McCain supporter who refused medical attention after being the victim of an unwitnessed assault by black people for her politics too.
To me, it gives the message, “That’s not what I would have expected from what I know about you and I don’t necessarily agree, but this doesn’t change my opinion of you.” What’s wrong with that? It’s a nice thing to say. It could conceivably have been meant as an insult, but, as I said, it’s all about the context and the relationship the student has had with the teacher. (And, whether or not the teacher was approached for her comment or if it was unprovoked.) The readers of the article have no way of knowing anything about that.